awej 5 no.4 full issue 2014

AWEJ Volume.5 Number.3, 2014Global English and World Culture: A Case Study of the SubjectiveWu & Keeveryone around him. While most NESTs in Taiwan are sojourners who seldom stay for morethan five years and some even never learn to speak any local languages, Chuck rode amotorcycle to the local market and chatted with local elders. In Chuck‘s words, ―you can talkabout the real thing, real self‖ in Taiwan. The distance between individuals is much shorter inEastern cultures compared to Western ones. People involve with others‘ business and see others‘life deeply connected to their own. For John, his change was more conceptual and abstract. Onhow to make the world better:[A]t one point I thought it could be done quite simple, and now I realize, I don‘t know if it‘simpossible or something, it‘s much deeper than just feeding people. It‘s changing people‘sbeliefs, in Taiwan, in Canada, everywhere. It seems flaky: at spiritual level, everything isconnected. There‘s no other, in a sense, we ARE the others. I mean, you‘re not me and I‘mnot you, but everything is ONE. And the idea that, somebody is god, finding out the solutionto everyone, it‘s ridiculous, we‘re all struggling. By changing yourself, you change the ideaof the other. (John 4 th interview, capital words John‘s emphasis)The step John took, to change himself in order to change others, implies tremendously deepphilosophical and religious ideas of the East.Though Chuck and John reflected on their worldviews and changed their ways of seeing theworld, their teaching practices still manifested their cultures of learning (Cortazzi & Jin, 2002)that emphasize students‘ agency. Chuck valued participation (the process) over performance (theresult of education). John‘s educational ideals were the dialogue style in the Greek tradition, inwhich teacher and students engage in constant arguments. Meyer and McEneaney (2000) pointedout the world culture concepts of equality and active participation in educational settings, andthese ideas are illustrated in the following excerpts:I know in Taiwan there‘re a lot of people that have this idea that controlling the student, youhave to control them; I don‘t agree with that philosophy. I don‘t like the sound of the word; Idon‘t think it‘s a good way of education. (Chuck 3 rd interview)The actual performance is actually not the most important part. The most important part forme is when they‘re practicing with their partner; they repeat these dialogues again and again.That‘s the key to me. (Chuck 3 rd interview)The methodology of teaching English in Asia comes from the teaching of Confucius; the ideaof Confucius: students listen, the teacher talks, the teacher writes, the students absorb theknowledge, there isn‘t a dialogue in which you can, like in Greek tradition, you can argueback and forth. So that presents a challenge teaching a language because you can‘t teach alanguage when people just listen to you. (John 1 st interview)Both Chuck and John valued students‘ initiative actions, and encouraged students to express anddevelop their own ideas. Here this slight worldview convergence suggests that globalization andthe cultural contacts and mixture it brings produce a two-way process; more cultural elementsfrom other cultures contribute to world culture, not just western science and rationalityoverpowering other cultures.Arab World English JournalISSN: 2229-9327www.awej.org179